ORLANDO, Fla. – A pair of provocative billboards on one of Central Florida’s busiest highways are designed to grab attention and highlight the dangerous spike in antisemitism.
The new billboards along the Beachline at South Orange Blossom Trail aim to reach the 70-some-million visitors who travel to America’s No. 1 tourist destination each year.
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Anyone driving from the Orlando International Airport perhaps to the “happiest place on Earth” might be jolted back to reality by the billboards: The Anti-Defamation League reports Jewish hate incidents nearly tripled in the U.S. in just one year, with almost 4,000 antisemitic incidents recorded nationwide in 2023, the highest number since the ADL began keeping record.
One billboard reads, “People on the right side of history never hide their faces.” Another on the opposite side of the Beachline states, “I need to be able to tell my children I did not stay silent.”
Archie Gottesman, cofounder of Jew Belong, the New York City-based Jewish foundation behind the billboards, explained why it selected Orlando for the billboards.
“It really has come to this,” Gottesman said. “There’s only 2% of the entire country that are Jewish people. Even if every Jew spoke out and stood up proudly against antisemitism, it wouldn’t be enough. So what Jew Belong is doing is talking to the 98% of people in this country who are not Jewish.”
In Central Florida, News 6 has reported on several troubling incidents over the past few years, including neo-Nazi demonstrators in Waterford Lakes arrested for attacking a Jewish UCF student.
Hateful messages were projected onto buildings in downtown Orlando and at the Daytona International Speedway.
Aaron Bernstein, Chair of the Jewish Community Relations Council, said there is real fear in the Central Florida Jewish Comunity.
“There’s a fear but it’s also an awareness, a heightened awareness,” Bernstein said. “You’re more aware of your surroundings. You take a look at certain things that are out of place.... but yes there is an actual fear, you see it at the JCC [Jewish Community Center], you see it with heightened security at a lot of our Jewish institutions in town.”
Bernstein has received numerous reports of anti-Semitism locally.
“I do know that in the community there has been some instances of anti-Semitic activity, some very overt and some covert which basically means microaggression,” Bernstein said. “I can tell you I’ve gotten reports of people writing either anti-Semitic or anti-Israel marks on coffee cups at specific fast food coffee places. Someone went in wearing a pro-Israel necklace or pin and someone of a certain background decided they did not want to serve that person.”
The Central Florida Jewish Community of roughly 50,000 people very much appreciates the billboards, Bernstein said.
“These are great actually,” Bernstein said. “It raises awareness. It’s saying something. Speaking up. If you see something, say something, don’t sit idly on the side. If you see a sign like that you have to take action.”
“People don’t want antisemitism but what’s happening is there’s not enough awareness about it,” Gottesman said. “And conversations are key to getting to a better place in this country for everybody because antisemitism is bad for everyone. It’s not just Jews who are going to be hurt by the rise in anti-Semitism.”
Local Jewish schools have responded to the soaring antisemitism by installing bulletproof glass and employing armed guards in military-style uniforms.
“The Jewish community has a tendency to talk to itself about how bad the problem is and that’s not terrible, but it’s not solving the issue,” Gottesman said. “The issue has to be talking to our allies. After Oct. 7, when a lot of the antisemitism became huge, the Jewish community felt like well, great, our allies will be there for us because Jews are often very good allies... and we felt like, well, there’ll be other groups to speak up about the antisemitism. And there really haven’t been, and I’m not saying none, but it hasn’t been nearly as vocal and as brave as the Jewish community has thought. So what’s happening is Jewish kids are scared to wear a Jewish star or a yarmulke, you know, a skull cap covering that often observant men wear. And they’re scared in America to be proud Jews. And that’s why I mean, it’s really a boiling point. It’s terrible that that it’s gotten this bad without more outrage from good people in our country.”
Rapper Kanye West eventually apologized in 2023 for posting anti-Semitic comments.
“Why aren’t more celebrities speaking up?” Gottesman asked. “Why don’t politicians? And the answer: because those who hate Jews have made it very, very difficult to speak up. So even when people are strong enough and speak up, other people are going to overcome it. You know, a lot of this is social media. They kind of say terrible things on social media and so you have to be brave to speak up.”
The billboards at State Road 528 and U.S. 441 are part of a larger campaign by Jew Belong, which has placed 628 billboards across 33 states.
“Jew Belong is a nonprofit organization so sometimes we get people reaching out to us on Instagram or Facebook or on our website and people say, well, I want to have a billboard in my town and or my city, and we do that,” Gottesman said. “So sometimes we choose where our billboards go, like Orlando was such an obvious place because everyone goes to Orlando. But sometimes we go where someone who donates to our organization says, ‘I want you to come to my city for me’ or ‘I want you to come to a place where my son goes to college because there’s been a lot of antisemitism there and we want to have a billboard.’ So we love when people reach out and talk to us or donate. And that’s how that’s how it gets better and better.”
You can contact Jew Belong here: Hello@jewbelong.org
The two billboards will remain up through April.
As of 2023, harassing someone for their religion is illegal in Florida.
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